This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/684,551, filed Oct. 14, 2003 now abondoned, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a grinding plate composed of an elastic material for an electric hand grinder, and also to a method for producing the same.
A known electric hand grinder formed for example as a vibration grinder or an eccentric grinder (DE 35 10 333 A1) has a grinding medium support composed of a driven, rigid support part and an elastic grinding plate which is fixed with an upper plate surface on the support part. Its lower plate surface is provided with a receptacle of a grinding means, for example a grinding plate or a grinding disc. For obtaining a high grinding yield, the grinding plate has a predetermined Shore hardness. Such a grinding plate is produced in a cost-favorable manner by punching out of a large-surface sheet and glueing to the support part.
During the punching process it is however only possible to carry out cuts which are perpendicular to the grinding plate, so that the grinding plate has a side surface extending at the right angle to the plate plane and connects the upper plate edge with the lower plate edge. In high-grade electric hand grinders the side surface of the grinding plate which extends from the upper plate edge to the lower plate edge is inclined to the upper plate edge so that it has a substantially trapeze-shaped cross-section (DE 298 11 654 U1). Because of the extension of the lower plate edge, a good edge accessibility of the grinding plate is provided, so that a workpiece can be exactly ground in corners or edges without producing abrasion traces due to striking of the grinding plate carrier against the end side of the workpiece. Such abrasion traces are difficult to remove, in particular on bright surfaces. Also, damages to the workpieces are avoided, which can be caused by excessive pressing of the grinding plate into the edges to be ground.
Such grinding plates with the projecting lower grinding plate edge are produced by injection molding process from polyurethane or integral foams. These foam processes are however relatively expensive.